NECK OF THE WOODS

No Bush League Here

Call it a Craigslist miracle! It’s not as if Vancouver metal band Neck Of The Woods came together easy, but it came together nicely. Searching for prospective band members via the musicians-wanted classifieds is always a daunting task for any band. Drunks, addicts, flakes, ex-cons, too-good-for-this, and useless-at-that can make it a torturous process. Managing to avoid all that – Neck of the Woods arrived on the local metal scene in 2012.


Neck Of The Wood’s guitarist Dave Carr has been in various projects over the years. The frustration of short-lived bands had set in so he proceeded to find players for something new. Ads were placed and many answered.

OFF!

Showing the kids how to get OFF!

Try to imagine John Lennon fronting the Beatles and the Stones, and, then, a few years later starting a band with Mick Ronson, Dennis Thompson and Dee Dee Ramone – just because he felt like it.  Put the CV of Keith Morris in perspective here for just a second and connect the punk rock dots a bit to see that the man has had, and is having, a pretty good run as a driving force in some of the most all-time relevant A-List West Coast Punk Rock Combos.  As a founding member of both Black Flag & the Circle Jerks, he's hit the highest highs of the rock and roll life and it's excesses, then almost kicked more bucket than ass before his resurgence as a pissed off force/freak of nature sporting even more mojo in his mid-50's than he had as a trailblazing hyperactive twenty-something.

REBEL SPELL

 photo by John Marshall @ The Grosvenor in London

Getting Serious with Todd Serious from the Rebel Spell

Getting to interview Todd Serious from Vancouver’s most political punk band The Rebel Spell is rare these days but so are their shows in Vancouver now. “It's hard. I miss Vancouver a lot but then it's so much more awesome when I get here. It's constantly changing, definitely moved out of the pseudo-commercial venues it was in.”

February 2003 was their first show ever, so they just passed 11 years as a band. Asking Todd about his latest concerns, he responds with, “Honestly, I'm working hard to resist falling in to a nihilistic mental state. I feel really overwhelmed with the trajectory of society. And I'm sure a lot of people feel that. But I think it's super important to maintain a positive outlook. Remember that even though the big picture is really bleak, individuals like you and I, and everyone, can make a difference day to day in just keeping things a little bit better. And really, that's what's within our power so we should strive for that. And I'm striving to keep it positive in an overwhelmingly negative context. My friends go that way, I go that way. Support each other, because that's all we've really got.”

WALL OF SOUND - APRIL

Local music news and gig listing 

The Flintettes are here - and they'll be giving you Goosebumps after the Honeymoon!  A new arrival in Vancouver is this trio which is made up of CC on drums (Vancougar)  Marissa on bass (Dizzy Eyes) and Michael, guitar (The Tranzmitors).  Vocals are shared between them in this six month old pop blending combo. They have a single coming out in in April on La Ti Da records, with the final piece of music recorded at the now closed Hive Studio.

They will be appearing April 12th with The Isotopes at the Electric Owl. Check them out!  http://www.latidarecords.com/tag/the-flintettes